Sunday, June 08, 2008

The top 100 or so books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users. Bold the books you have read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.

[If blogspot has underlining capability, I don't see it--suffice it to say that some of the below were read for school, maybe five or six. The Iliad, Odyssey and the Aenied stand out to me as things I should really get to.)

Jonathan Strange & Mr NorrellAnna KareninaCrime and PunishmentCatch-22One Hundred Years of SolitudeWuthering HeightsThe SilmarillionLife of Pi: A novelThe Name of the RoseDon QuixoteMoby DickUlyssesMadame BovaryThe OdysseyPride and PrejudiceJane EyreThe Tale of Two CitiesThe Brothers KaramazovGuns, Germs, and SteelWar and PeaceVanity FairThe Time Traveler's WifeThe IliadEmmaThe Blind AssassinThe Kite RunnerMrs. DallowayGreat ExpectationsAmerican GodsA Heartbreaking Work of Staggering GeniusAtlas ShruggedReading Lolita in TehranMemoirs of a GeishaMiddlesexQuicksilverWicked: The life and times of the wicked witch of the WestThe Canterbury TalesThe Historian : a novelA Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManLove in the Time of CholeraBrave New WorldThe FountainheadFoucault's PendulumMiddlemarchFrankensteinThe Count of Monte CristoDraculaA Clockwork OrangeAnansi BoysThe Once and Future KingThe Grapes of WrathThe Poisonwood Bible1984Angels & Demons InfernoThe Satanic VersesSense and SensibilityThe Picture of Dorian GrayMansfield ParkOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestTo the LighthouseTess of the D'UrbervillesOliver TwistThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeDuneThe PrinceThe Sound and the FuryAngela's Ashes: A memoirThe God of Small ThingsA People's History of the United States : 1492-presentCryptonomiconNeverwhereA Confederacy of DuncesA Short History of Nearly EverythingDublinersThe Unbearable Lightness of BeingBelovedSlaughterhouse-FiveThe Scarlet LetterEats, Shoots & LeavesThe Mists of AvalonOryx and CrakeCollapse: How societies choose to fail or succeedCloud AtlasThe ConfusionLolitaPersuasionNorthanger AbbeyThe Catcher in the RyeOn the RoadThe Hunchback of Notre DameFreakonomics: A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everythingZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An inquiry into valuesThe AeneidWatership DownGravity's RainbowThe Hobbit In Cold Blood: A true account of a multiple murder and its consequencesWhite TeethTreasure IslandDavid Copperfield

Interesting. I'm going to ask friends what they have read and see if it corresponds to what I imagine they have read. My reading is better than my counting, I think it was 86 of those that i had read, but i did keep losing count. And some of the others I had not even heard of.

I've read two Ayn Rand but it was We the living and not Atlas Shrugged, it was a long time ago and I don't know what i would make of her if I read her again now, maybe i will. I was in secondary school when a friend recommended her and I read her with no realisation she was so controversial.

The list is interesting for it's omissions, and why The Simarillion? are they testing staying power?

Seems like there were a fair number of SF/Fantasy readers in the survey, presumably more than a few who have difficulties with length.

I thought Stephenson's Cryptonomicon was a rollicking good read and will potentially be a wonderful SF/adventure movie if well-handled. I looked forward very much to Quicksilver but only made it through about 150 pages, bored to tears and severely aggravated by the arch pseudo-archaic use of language. Major example of irritating style over substance.

About Me

In his spare time, Olewnick writes about music (and other stuff) here and for Squid's Ear. His biography of Keith Rowe, improvising musician and founding member of AMM, was published in June 2018 by powerHouse Books.